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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

All in a hard day's work

After a hectic weekend of socializing and getting to bed late, Anamika, woke up early. Monday was hard. This one was specially hard as she had to get her two kids ready, have them dropped off and then reach her work place on time too. Today, she had to remember each little thing to take care of, completely by herself. But she was upbeat about it all as she had managed the weekend, wonderfully. She thought she could do everything by herself without anyone's help.
At work it was too busy, which is nothing new these days. Around lunch time, when Anamika got hungry she finished the energy bar and her drink. But it was no surprise that the so called "energy" bar did not provide the requisite energy. The dark chocolates, she usually gobbles up during her late afternoon visit to the "candy man's" office, were calling her from behind the closed doors. Unfortunately, the "candy man" was on vacation today. The work at hand, confused and stressed Anamika quite a bit. Finally, she resolved to go to the gym to ameliorate the situation. As luck would have it, after a good workout she actually started to feel a little sleepy and more hungry. She tried her best to keep her eyes open and look at the changes needed to be made. It was impossible for her to make any progress as hunger was clouding all her thinking and she actually started to feel completely enervated. At this point, she decided to leave work, go home and grab something to eat.
Anamika, sometimes tries to get caught up in her "Indian" ways. With the weak mind that she had at that point of time, she reasoned with herself. "I cannot have dinner without my kids." But the hunger was maddening. If she went to pick up the kids without eating something, she will not be able to eat anytime before she served her kids dinner. All this could take up to an hour. But, she needed food right at that very moment!
She had a bread, some veggies and a piece of chocolate and felt more energetic. She quickly got back in the car to pick up her kids. The kids, being kids and a little spoilt, created all kinds of messes in the car and in the house. Anamika, struggled very hard to keep her temper in check and her voice low. Somehow, she mustered the strength to explain to them that it takes a lot of effort to actually clean up the mess that they effortlessly make , time and again.
Finally, her savior rang the door bell. It was the babysitter. Anamika, breathed a sigh of relief when she got into the car to leave. But wait, she did not have cash on her to pay the sitter and off she drove to the ATM. The machine gave her cash in twenty dollar bills. Anamika needed change. She thought she would get some tea and get the change for the bill at the same time.
It was raining at that time. On her way from the parking lot to the store she heard someone say " this does not seem at all like Colorado." She had to agree that this summer has been far more wet than usual. At the counter, the young girl handing over the tea asked her " How's your day been so far ?" Anamika, tried to smile and say effortlessly "good." But the words did not come out. The girl laughed and said, "Oh, I see. It was one of those days." "It was not actually a bad day but a very hard day " said Anamika. The girl was in her twenties and had a pretty face. It actually felt good to finally, vent out a little bit of her frustrations to this young smiling girl. Anamika had to admit to herself that managing everything on her own was tough for her. Acknowledging this, in and of itself, gave her some relief.
She sipped at her tea and walked out of the store and lo and behold! What is this? There was an amazing rainbow, right before her eyes. It spanned across the horizon and looked like the most colorful and ornate double-arched gateway she has ever seen. The timing and beauty of it all, completely took her by surprise. She was so excited that she ran inside to tell the girl that her "hard day" eventually made her experience this unbelievably awesome spectacle. But that girl was no where to be seen. Anamika's mind played tricks on her. "Could that girl be God? Otherwise how am I seeing something so amazing right after I met her?" She ran outside again in hurry not to miss this precious sight. Her heart craved to share this joy. Who could she call? She rang up her babysitter in an effort to make sure that the kids saw the rainbow. However, the babysitter's phone was most probably turned off and she only got her voice mail. "I just have to take it in all by myself," she thought. She could see each color with amazing clarity. The upper one was a little bit more faint than the lower one. In between were the fading gray clouds. The ends of the arches were so bright that she remembered the saying about "the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow". She stood there motionless and just got lost in the great artistry of nature. She could see cars stopping and people getting out with cameras and taking pictures of the fascinating rainbow. Even though, Anamika regretted not having her camera, in her heart's heart, she knew that nothing could capture the greatness of this moment.

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